Astrid Pill has spent the bulk of her almost 30 year career honing her skills as a writer, devisor and performer of new accessible, multidisciplinary works, as part of strong collaborative teams. She has an interest in uneasy themes, expressed through non-linear narratives full of dark comedy and pathos. She has worked across community theatre, dance theatre, music, theatre, education, TV and film.

Astrid Pill worked with Restless Dance Theatre, performing in 5 major works, leading workshops and directing community projects such as Home (with Opera SA Young Artists) and Pets (with Riverland Youth Theatre), all formative experiences in collaborative theatre making. She recently re-joined Restless as a performer on Shifting Perspectives for the Illuminate Adelaide and Vivid Sydney Festivals. 

For Patch Theatre Company Astrid co-created and performed in Helpmann Award winning shows Me & My Shadow and Mr Magee and the Biting Flea and also Emily Loves to Bounce. She performed in Sharon, Keep Ya Hair On and Pigs, Bears and most recently, Superluminal for Illuminate Adelaide.

Pill has a long term collaborative relationship with Ingrid Voorendt and Zoë Barry and they formed the company Ladykillers along with Gaelle Mellis, creating works including Cake, Lullaby and The Pyjama Girl. More recently, Voorendt, Barry and Pill were joined by Renate Henschke, Jason Sweeney and Sue Grey-Gardner to create I Hide in Bathrooms which premiered to critical acclaim at the Adelaide Festival 2024. 

With Vitalstatistix Astrid performed in The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Ruysch, Parallax Island and Checklist for An Armed Robber, developing a strong working relationship with Maude Davey. Vitals also commissioned Cake and Pyjama Girl (both co-produced by Ladykillers) and presented I Hide In Bathrooms.

Cake, which was written by Astrid was adapted for ABC’s airplay, and toured Country SA, was programmed by Melbourne’s Malthouse and toured to Singapore. This work won multiple awards including an Adelaide Critics Circle Award, a Fringe Award, and was nominated for a Green Room Award.

Throughout her career, Pill has also collaborated and performed with Brand X, The Border Project, Sarah Neville, Act Now, Windmill Theatre, Polyglot, IHOS Opera, State Theatre SA, Art Bomb/Dream Big, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Tutti Arts and Brink Productions. 

Pill sings and studied for many years with Robert Dawe. An interest in voice led her to study voice in France and Poland as part of an Arts SA Emerging Artist Award. She notably sang for The New Pollutants re-score of Metropolis (2 x Adelaide Film Festival, Next Wave/ACMI, Dark MoFo, Sydney Opera House and Fed. Square ‘21). She also performed a solo show, Easy Ryder by Fiona Sprott for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, directed by Daisy Brown. 

Pill is currently undertaking an Arts South Australia fellowship with Maude Davey and Tim Etchells to further develop her contemporary writing practise. 

Photo credit: Diana Stenta